Tom + Amanda = 3

If you haven't already heard, come March 12, 2016, Tom and I will be welcoming a new addition to our family!

Meet... The Lime! Or at least, that's how big the baby was when we had our 12 week ultrasound on the first of September. At my current 17 weeks, the baby is the size of an onion, or about 5 inches long. 5 inches doesn't seem so big-- until you look at a ruler!

I will be the first to acknowledge that I was incredibly lucky during my first trimester. There were a few weeks where if I let my stomach get empty, I would start to feel a bit queasy, but I never experienced any real nausea or morning sickness. My energy levels have not been too bad-- I get tired in the evenings, and I have still be sleeping quite well. I haven't had any food aversions, but I do want to eat spaghetti and meatballs for EVERY meal.

For now, all is well. Will keep you posted!

Tofino - Sun on the Island

It's been eight years since the last time Tom and I were in Tofino. It might have actually been the first holiday that we ever took together. We went in October, and the main thing that sticks out in my mind is that it rained. EVERY. DAY.  This should not be a surprise; Vancouver Island is one of the rainiest places on the west coast, but subsequently, my memories of Tofino are a little dreary.

Our trip this year could not have been more different-- it was BEAUTIFUL while we were in Tofino. Sunny, warm and dry, it was everything our first trip was not.

We arrived on a Tuesday after a grueling 12 hours in the car (or on a ferry). We misjudged how long it would take us to get to the ferry terminal-- so we missed the 12:50pm ferry, didn't have a reservation to get us on to the 2:30pm ferry, and had to take the 3:10pm ferry. We left Kelowna at 8:15am, and it was just after 8pm when we finally arrived in Tofino.

We stayed at the lovely Cox Bay Resort. There were a series of units lines up along a long walkway, facing the beach. We were only three units away from the beach, so it was a short walk. Each of the units were there own self-contained condo with a living area, dining area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. More and more, I love having a kitchen on holidays. It's so convenient to be able to buy a few simple groceries, and then you don't have to rely on eating out for every meal.

Cox Bay Beach

On our first morning in Tofino, we took a long walk on the beach. Given the beautiful weather, it was bustling with tourists and locals-- most of them relaxing in the sand, or taking surfing lessons.

Surfers out in the bay.

There were large and small groups of people learning to surf, and people of all ages, shapes and sizes. I did a day-long surf camp when I was in Australia in 2007, and I remember it was an exhausting endeavor. I spent all day climbing up on the surf board, only to be immediately knocked off into the water. I feel like I'd probably be better at it these days, given all the yoga I do (better balance), but Tom hurt his ribs playing soccer a few weeks ago, so we didn't make an attempt this time.

Tom and I.

We wandered around the beach and found a path that we had travelled during our first visit to Tofino. It took us out to a nice outlook point where we had a nice vantage point of the area.

When we finished our beach walk, we headed out to Tacofino for lunch. Basically, anyone who I've talked to who has recently been to Tofino recommends going to Tacofino. Tacofino is a fish taco food truck. Lines are epically long. On our first visit, we waited an hour between getting line and receiving our food. We obviously thought it was worth it though, because we went back again the next day. The second time we waited 35 minutes.

We had lingcod fish tacos, and tuna fish tacos. The lingcod was pretty basic-- deepfried, with mayo, salsa, lime and cabbage. The tuna tacos had a more Asian flare to them with a sweet soy-sauce and ginger along with the cabbage and salsa. We also had some fruit smoothies-- mine being watermelon basil, and Tom's being lime mint. 

Tacofino fare.

Also worth mentioning, Tom and I ate at a restaurant in town called the Wolf in the Fog, and it was also delicious! We had the Spanish Bombshell, which was a combination of scallops, mussels, clams, potatoes and barnacles in a tomato saffron broth with a tangy aioli. There was a tomato salad on the side. It was so good, we went back to eat it a second night too!

Rainforest Trail A.

In between all the copious amounts of eating, Tom and I drove into the Pacific Rim National Park and did a few short hikes on the well maintained Rainforest Trails. I admit, I was a little disappointed that it was so dry on the trip-- there were no banana slugs in sight! Banana slugs are pretty gross, but there's something fascinating about them as well.

Banana slug from our 2007 Tofino trip.

We didn't see much of anything in terms of animals during our short hikes-- unless you count a particularly pissed off blue jay (we must have been near its nest). But it was quiet and humid in the rainforest, and we enjoyed ourselves.

Rainforest Trail B.

In retrospect, we probably should have spent longer than two days in Tofino-- but it was a nice break before the long drive home.

Where to next, you ask? Well! We just booked tickets to Kauai, Hawaii, for the first week of November. Hoorah!

Kelowna - Smoke and Waterfalls

On our second full day in Kelowna, we awoke in anticipation of a hot sunny day-- wine tours! Lake time! Hours spent lazily sunning ourselves! WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

Alas, it was not meant to be. We awoke to a thick coating of smoke covering the Okanagan Valley. The smoke hung over Kelowna for the rest of our trip. 

Beautiful view of Lake Okanagan.

Regardless, we did make the best of the time we had. On Sunday morning we walked down to the lake from the rental cabin, which turned out to be quite a steep hike. We hoped that the smoke would clear up a bit, but it never really did. So we headed out for a self-guided tour of several wineries, including Mission Hill, the Hatch, Quails' Gate and Volcanic Hills. We finished our day off with dinner at Summerhill Pyramid, before dropping Ashley off at the airport.

On our third and final day in Kelowna, Steve, Jeff, Tom and I headed into Fintry Provincial Park for a short hike up a three-tiered waterfall. We packed lunch with us-- Jeff actually hauled a cooler ladened with sandwich fixings, snacks and beverages up the huge set of steep stairs, with the intention of us having a picnic at the top

Jeff and Steve in a smokey Fintry Park.

Of course, when we got to the top, there wasn't really anywhere to eat. Everything was out in the scorching sun (a sign that the smoke had cleared a bit-- we could actually see patches of blue sky every once in a while), so Jeff hauled everything back down again.

Fintry Provincial Park waterfall.

Staircase up to Waterfall is visible at the top.

Steve and I taking in the waterfall below.

At the base of the waterfall we followed a pathway into some tree cover, and found ourselves a nice spot by the creek to eat our lunch. We were only minorly harassed by wasps, and while investigating some nearby trees infected with tent caterpillars, we found this hairy caterpillar. I don't think this guy is a tent caterpillar-- he just happened to be near a nest.

Hairy caterpillar.

We spent a couple hours relaxing by the lake, and then Jeff made us some delicious pork souvlaki for dinner. After dinner we hit the pool, and then got a head start on packing up.

Tom and I headed out early the next morning to finish the last leg of our journey out to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Stay tuned!

Kelowna - Myra Canyon

It's been a while since I've done a group trip with my friends. And when I say "a while", that's bit relative, since it's really only been about a year and a half since we did our last group trip to Hawaii. But still, a year and a half is a long time!

This time we decided to do something a bit more local, and headed to Kelowna for an extended weekend. Ashley was already out in the area visiting her brother, niece and nephew, but Steve, Jeff, Tom and I headed out on a Friday.

We rented a cabin/cottage through VRBO. This is my first experience with VRBO, and I have to say, it was quite positive. The cabin owner was easy to get a hold of, and more than happy to help us with any issues we had, big or small. And the cabin itself was quite cozy. It slept eight (although, it would be a tight eight!), and had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a fully appointed kitchen.

By the time we all arrived on the Friday, it was quite late, so we headed to bed, deciding to get an early start the next day. We woke up to blue skies and promises of a 25 degree day, so we headed to Myra Canyon to bike along a portion of the Kettle Valley trestle bridges.

Ashley, Jeff and Steve geared up.

I used to cycle a lot as a kid, but I haven't done much since High School (i.e. 15+ years ago). Once you learn, you never really forget though.

Trestle bridge.

The trestle bridges are actually pretty cool, and well maintained by volunteers in the area. There was an information board along the trail that showed that some of the bridges burned down during a forest fire in 2003, and volunteers helped to rebuild them.

Steve and Jeff heading into a tunnel.

Overall the trail along the bridges is 12km, one-way. I think it took us about two hours (including stopping and snacking) to ride the round-trip course. There were tons of people on the trail hiking and biking like us,

Crossing one of 18 trestle bridges.

The weather was perfect. It was warm in the sun, and cool in the shade. There was a nice breeze as we were riding so we didn't overheat (if anything it was too cool for me, I ended up having to put on my rain jacket-- but no one else had this problem!)

Taking in the view at kilometer nine.

If you're ever in the Kelowna area, and looking for something to do, I'd recommend checking out Myra Valley. We had a great afternoon out on rental bikes, and afterwards we headed back into the city for lunch, a grocery run, and some time at the pool.

The group calling it a day.

It turns out this was the only beautiful day we experienced in Kelowna during our four-night stay. We woke up the next morning to a plume of thick smoke that had blown in from the Washington Stickpin fire to the south. More on that in a post to come!

95

My grandmother-in-law, Ethel, is turning 95 today-- an age that only about 1% of the population will ever get to. Ethel is an avid and loyal reader of my blog, so I figured I would take this opportunity to wish her a happy birthday! I'm not sure if she will be horrified or pleased to be featured.

Andrew, Ethel and Tom at the Fairmont Palliser.

When Ethel turned 93, she wrote a short memoir, and had it printed and bound for distribution to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I thought I'd share a few of my favourite excerpts from her life.

Ethel was born on August 19, 1920 in Pakan, Alberta. she was the third child in a family of nine; four boys and five girls. Ethel would walk to school, about 5 or 6 miles. Her first teacher was a real old "school marm", who would punish students with a switch she would make them collect from outside.

"Our house has no electricity, running water or sewage. We used oil lamps, hauled water from a well and dumped our garbage in a hole dug for that purpose. Our heating was wood and coal stoves. Our daily chores were keeping the kitchen water tanks full, filling the wood box and coal bins. Our toilet was a little house at the back of the yard with two holes - and a pail of lime."

Bathing was an all-day affair, having to heat up water on a wood burning stove, and each sibling waited their turn. Laundry was an equally challenging task-- especially in the winter when the laundry would freeze, and they'd have to hang it in the kitchen near the fire to thaw it out.

In the summer, Ethel and her siblings picked fruit for canning and jam, played baseball, croquet, hide and seek and swam in the river. In the winter they tobogganed, skated, played hockey and skied on with homemade skis.

"I wouldn't have traded my life on the farm for anything. We were a large family-- nine children in a five room house with no facilities like we have today. It was a great upbringing. We learned to share, economize, get along together, etc. Of course there were fights, many of them, but our parents were strict and we didn't get away with much. When I look back on those days, I marvel at the way Mom and Dad worked to keep us fed and clothed. It makes me tired just thinking about it. I guess we were as poor as church mice, but we kids didn't realize it. It was our way of life."

Ethel on her 90th Birthday in 2010.

When Ethel turned 15, she went to live with her aunt and uncle, and eventually moved to Edmonton to find work. She was accepted into a government program that helped train young people for jobs. Her first placement was in a florist's shop-- she stayed there for two years.

Eventually Ethel went with her cousin to Forth Smith in the Northwest Territories to work in a hotel. It was her first trip on an airplane, and she was thrilled with the change of scenery. Ethel worked as a waitress in the hotel dining room. It was here in the Hotel MacKenzie that she met her future husband, Stan. Stan was a Hudson's Bay Company clerk working out of the Fort Fitzgerald store, and he would come over to Fort Smith to help out at the Bay.

"My cousin introduced him to me and I said, "Not bad, eh?". Of course my cousin had to blab it around and everyone teased me about it."

Tom and Ethel on Andrew`s scooter.

After nine months in the Northwest Territories, Ethel found the work too hard, and the hours too long, and decided to leave. Leaving Stan was difficult, but at the time HBC's policy was that single men couldn't get married until they'd been with the company for three years, and Stan had only been with the company for one year when she'd met him. She left with the understanding that she'd see him again on his next holiday.

From here Ethel headed to McMurray, and then on to Edmonton.

" There was an old trapper who took a shine to me and when we got to McMurray, he took me out to dinner at the Hotel and then to his house where he lived. It was full of Indian women which I'm sure were his live-in ladies. He wanted to buy me a fur coat and took me to a mink farm where he was insistent that he buy me enough to have a coat made. I had a terrible time convincing him I wasn't interested. He even proposed marriage. He was all of 65 or 70 years and I was 20 years old."

"When I got to Edmonton, I got a job at the aircraft repair plant where they repaired planes for the war as this was in the middle of wartime. I started in the paint shopping putting "dope" on planes. It was like a glue that you covered the surface of the plane with which hardened and became a stiff coat... It was awful working in the dope shop! The dope was strong and we were made to drink lots of milk to counteract the effect. From there I was sent to the shop that worked on magnetos and fuel pumps. They had to be cleaned and repaired and put back together and then installed on the planes and tested. Testing was my job. I used to go out to the airfield where the planes were and check the things as they installed them. Can you imagine anyone flying the plane after I'd okay'd them? I didn't have  clue as to what I was doing but they seemed to think I was doing a good job."

While Ethel was working in the aircraft repair plant, she received a letter from Stan telling her she should pack a trunk with all her things and head to Snowdrift. Stan was coming out in July, and they could get married. That was the proposal she received-- he presumed she would say yes. And she did.

Ethel and I getting ready to enjoy some eggs benedict.

Ethel and Stan stayed in Snowdrift for several years, through the birth of her first daughter, Corinne, and their second daughter, Diana. Stan taught Ethel how to cook, and she became a pro at baking bread. In the winter they lived off frozen items such as caribou meat, fish and bread. By the spring they had to rely on canned goods. One spring, they ran out of most of their canned goods, and had to eat macaroni and beans until the supply boat finally came in.

"I remember one time when a trapper came for a visit. He has just come off the trap lines and stopped by to see Stan. These trappers didn't stay with us but stayed in a shack the Bay had for them. After he left, I went to brush of the chesterfield of the dog hair he had left behind. It was then I noticed the spot where he was sitting was moving. It was covered with lice! He must have been crawling with them!"

"The first winter we were in Snowdrift Stan had an attack of appendicitis. It was October and the lake was about to freeze over. We had a short wave radio which we were able to contact Fort Resolution by tapping out our messages in Morse code. Dad knew how to operate it but I couldn't. When Stan took sick I tried to send a message to have a plane come in and pick us up and take Dad to the hospital in Yellowknife. I tapped a message out but they couldn't figure out what I was trying to tell them as I was making so many mistakes. Stan finally had to get on the radio and tell them what was wrong. They send a plane in right away."

After Diana was born, Stan and Ethel were transferred from Snowdrift to Fifth Meridian and eventually to Little Red River. Their last stop was in Fond du Lac. They stayed for several years, finally deciding to leave when Corinne was old enough for school.

"Our transportation on our final journey from the North consisted of planes, dog teams, train, car and sleigh... From my early life on the farm; to living in Canada's Northwest Territories with my husband Stan, I truly had a wonderful life."

Ethel and her four children.

Ethel and her family settled in Alberta, where she had two more children-- my mother-in-law, Barb, and her only son, Gerry. They enjoyed many years together, before Stan passed away in May 1999.

I really enjoyed reading Ethel's memoir. As time passes and years go by, I think it's easy to find yourself thinking that you've lived a normal life-- but normal lives can be truly extraordinary. So here's to a very happy 95th birthday for Ethel, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, cousin, aunt, neighbour and friend!

Candy Melts

When it comes to baking, the discovery of candy melts has opened a whole new door into decorating for me. No longer am I limited only to frosting and hard candies... I can pipe my own designs!

Candy melts are basically coloured pieces of chocolate. The come in small solid disc shapes, and can be melted down to a liquid in the microwave. When they are in liquid form, you can pipe them into whatever shape you want them to be. If you pipe them on to wax paper, they will solidify, and then readily peel off the paper.

It's AWESOME! They come in every colour of the rainbow-- you can mix them in melted form in case they DON'T come in the colour you need. You can make your decorations ahead of time and store them in the fridge... Candy melts are a great discovery.

In July, I used candy melts to make two different decorations. The first were for a baby shower for a friend and beautiful mama-to-be, who is due in early October. She is expecting a little girl, and her shower was themed around a pink, white and gold colour scheme. I piped out some flowers for garnish on the cupcakes, and they were quite a hit.

An added bonus was that the shower hostess had a beautiful cupcake stand, so they looked even better all arranged in a tower!

My second project was Adventure Time themed decorations for Jeff's 31st Birthday dessert. Jeff has recently been watching a lot of Adventure Time-- a quirky cartoon with a plethora of characters.

I started by making a very simplistic drawing on paper with ballpoint of the basic shapes of the characters. Then I went about mixing candy melts to make suitable colours. Then I was able to pipe the different colour layers onto wax paper-- I had to wait for each colour to cool and solidify before I could add in the next.

And voila! Jeff had Adventure Time characters to decorate his chocolate strawberry shortcakes!

I am very pleased with how both of these turned out. But they were both very time consuming, so I'm gladly taking a break from baking, for the time being.

Oh Canada - Sentinel Pass

On this Canada Day long weekend, there are many things to love about our great country, and one of them is the Rocky Mountains at our doorstep.

Tom and I can count the number of Alberta hikes we've done on one hand (it's actually pretty sad when you think about it). We can now bump that tally up to six, as we joined Andy and Joyce in checking off Sentinel Pass from the list.

Sentinel Pass is 5.8km (one-way) hike that begins at Moraine Lake. It started with a 2km uphill climb of switchbacks. All in all, the elevation gain on the hike is about 725m (2400ft).

 Wildflowers in bloom.

Wildflowers were in bloom all along the bath. Red indian paintbrush, white wild daisy, and pink and blue unidentifiable species!

Exiting out of the wooded switchbacks, we entered the Valley of the Ten Peaks. This was a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains and looming glaciers. The path evened out into a relatively flat stretch, and we sped along the trail.

 Glacier in Valley of the Ten Peaks.

We reached the base of the pass, and were able to snap a quick photo with some of the ten peaks in the valley behind us.

 Tom and I at the base of Sentinel Pass.

We completely lucked out with the weather on this hike. It was sunny all day, there was a cool breeze (in some instances, it was a COLD breeze), and there was not a hint of rain.

 Base of Sentinel Pass.

As we turned our attention away from the Valley of Ten Peaks, we took in the switchbacks we needed to navigate to get to the top. For the most part, the switcbacks weren't too bad. There was a small steep section with some loose scree that was very slippery, and we even tromped through a bit of residual snow, but otherwise it was uneventful.

Jagged switchbacks to Sentinel Pass.

 Purple flowers growing from some moss.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me about hiking in Alberta, is the number of people who go out on the trail totally unprepared. We saw all sorts of people on the trail... Hiking in jeans, no backpacks, no water, no food, inadequate footwear... I drank almost three liters of water while we were on the trail. I have no idea how anyone could do it without any!

When we reached the top of Sentinel Pass, we could take in the view where we had come from. Not too shabby!

 A view from Sentinel Pass.

We ate our lunches with a throng of other hikers (about two dozen or so), before packing it in and heading back.

 A view from Sentinel Pass into Paradise Valley.

Although we hiked up, and headed back the same way we came-- a second option was for us to park a car at a second trailhead, and hike down the opposing side of Sentinel Pass into Paradise Valley. Maybe next time?

 Sentinel Pass.

Our last stop was back at the trailhead at Moraine Lake. Moraine Lake is the most photographed lake in Canada-- and it was the first time that I've seen in it person! The colour of the water isn't really done justice by this photo, but I can understand why this is such a favourite for tourists.

Docked canoes on Moraine Lake.

Cheers, and Happy Canada Day!